⁷ The righteous care about justice for the poor,^(A)
    but the wicked have no such concern.

You have set your glory^(B)
    in the heavens.^(C)
2 Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold^(D) against your enemies,
    to silence the foe^(E) and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,^(F)
    the work of your fingers,^(G)
the moon and the stars,^(H)
    which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?^[c](I)

“Listen, you leaders^(A) of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
²     you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
    and the flesh from their bones;^(B)
3 who eat my people’s flesh,^(C)
    strip off their skin
    and break their bones in pieces;^(D)
who chop^(E) them up like meat for the pan,
    like flesh for the pot?^(F)”

¹⁴     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”^[a](A)
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶     ruin and misery mark their ways,
¹⁷ and the way of peace they do not know.”^[b](B)
18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”^[c](C)

¹⁶ He defended the cause of the poor and needy,^(A)
    and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know^(B) me?”
    declares the Lord.
¹⁷ “But your eyes and your heart
    are set only on dishonest gain,^(C)
on shedding innocent blood^(D)
    and on oppression and extortion.”^(E)

⁷ “When I went to the gate^(A) of the city
    and took my seat in the public square,
⁸ the young men saw me and stepped aside^(B)
    and the old men rose to their feet;^(C)
9 the chief men refrained from speaking^(D)
    and covered their mouths with their hands;^(E)
10 the voices of the nobles were hushed,^(F)
    and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.^(G)
11 Whoever heard me spoke well of me,
    and those who saw me commended me,^(H)
12 because I rescued the poor^(I) who cried for help,
    and the fatherless^(J) who had none to assist them.^(K)
13 The one who was dying blessed me;^(L)
    I made the widow’s^(M) heart sing.
¹⁴ I put on righteousness^(N) as my clothing;
    justice was my robe and my turban.^(O)
15 I was eyes^(P) to the blind
    and feet to the lame.^(Q)
16 I was a father to the needy;^(R)
    I took up the case^(S) of the stranger.^(T)
17 I broke the fangs of the wicked
    and snatched the victims^(U) from their teeth.^(V)